AIChE Pilot PlantBenchmarking StudyEnvironmental Health & Safety SectionDaniel J. Pintar UOP (Presenter)

Benchmarking Team MembersCurrent TeamBob Duggal, Afton ChemicalRich Palluzi, ExxonMobilDan Pintar, UOP Joe Powell, ShellDavid Edwards, ZetonSean Murray, Zeton

Previous membersShiah Cherney, ChevronTexacoPaul McKenzie, BMSKate Threefoot, DuPont

Sub-Industry Within the CPI

Pilot Plant Safety:Survey Results

Does your company have a formal safety program?100% of responding companies answer YES!

What type safety program do you have?

What type of safety metrics does your company use?

Employee Safety Incentive Program

Safety Record Injuries, OSHA, Lost Work Case Rates

Emergency Response Team

How do you review new processes for EH&S?

Safety Review Process to Control Changes to Pilot Plant

How do you document changes to pilot plant?

Do you allow unattended operations of pilot plants?

If you allow unattended operations, what type of safety review process is used for these types of units and are their any special safety interlocks or safety requirements?

9 responses to this questionComments..We allow, but currently the vast majority would be more correctly classified as Minimally Attended OperationsProcedure defines operations that can be run unattended - stirring reactions, distillations with no over-distilling hazards, etcDetailed hazard and risk analysis including safety shutdown system design and operationFull management of change (MOC) process and training; risk analysis required.Automatic shutdownAlarms to alert staff on site or in the areaA risk assessment process, but this is only the case for fully automated continuous unitPHANo special safety interlocks only past history/recordsFormal review with safety staff and engineering staff. Pilot plant specific safety interlocks are required for unattended operationNo unattended operations

What have been the biggest changes in the areas of pilot plant safety over the last decade for your organization?~30 responses were receivedA common theme was the advent of more formalized safety programs. Examples:Formal safety reviews/PHA (8 comments)Change Management MOC (4 comments)Formal safety training (4 comments)PSM/Scale/Scope of Work (3 comments)More formalized safety program guidelines/corporate requirements (2 comments)Increased use of automation/alarms/interlocks was a common theme (4 comments)

What have been the biggest changes in the areas of pilot plant safety over the last decade for your organization?Some others comments:Catch tank installation for containment of runaway reaction effluentFormal thermochemistry review process for every batch made in the pilot plantSolids handling/exposureIncreasing amount of HSE regulations we need to comply with that historically seemed to only apply to larger manufacturing sitesThe scale of the experiments has increased. Thus the chance of a serious incident is greater due to an increase in magnitudeWe have modified our safety procedures to more closely handle pilot plants as continuous operating laboratory units.Instituted a Safety Relief Valve database

What are some of the drivers of the changes in safety programs?Increasing amount of regulations/compliance requirements is an obvious driver of these changesSafety performance is a measure of corporate performance and is factored into strategic plansThe goal of 0 injuries, 0 environmental incidentsSocial aspects that help drive these changesSustainable DevelopmentBeing a good corporate citizenEmphasis on Safety is Job#1

What other issues associated with "Pilot Plant Safety" are of significance to your organization, and would be of interest to you in future benchmarking studies?Safety staffing - dedicated safety staff (of FTE) per operator/technician and per pilot unitTypes of review procedures:Pre-start up safety analysisTypes of safety review systemsChemical review along with an equipment operation review.Automation/safety system related:Safety shutdown implementation philosophy.Unattended/minimal operation. Remote monitoring from main plant control rooms for safety issues as backup to unattended operationPersonnel SafetySolids handlingHandling Extremely hazardous chemicalsMonitoring adherence to operating procedures (requires routinely auditing of operators as they perform their jobs).Industrial Hygiene Monitoring of new processes.People from other organizations working in the pilot plants.Area electrical classification philosophy

What other issues associated with "Pilot Plant Safety" are of significance to your organization, and would be of interest to you in future benchmarking studies? ContinuedPilot Plant versus Prudent Lab versus Manufacturing Facility standardsManaging a Pilot Plant within a Manufacturing Facility with different standards. What control should Manufacturing have over how a pilot plant operates?Managing between Pilot Plant and Prudent LabThe degree to which commercial process MOC concepts should apply to smaller scale R&D pilot plantsStatistics/MetricsIncident Reports, including Near Miss reportingCurrent Safety statisticsRoot cause analysis for all Safety Incidents/Injuries/AccidentsCorrective actions completion % & response timeCurrent training and training trackingReliability